Roll of honour

The following list of names has been compiled by author of “The Forgotten Tragedy” Brian Crabb.

Brian also has a large library of photographs of headstones of Lancastria victims which you can obtain from him on request – visit his website http://briancrabbmaritimebooks.co.uk/ for contact information or to obtain a copy of his book.

The sheer size of the Lancastria disaster and the fact that the troopship sank in the estuary of the River Loire, trapping many people inside the hull, means that a great many of the bodies were never recovered. A considerable number of those who escaped the sinking never had life jackets and could not swim. It is a fact that bodies were found weeks and, in some cases, months later, north and south of Saint-Nazaire, along the French coast; some more than one hundred miles from where the Lancastria sank. Therefore this exercise almost becomes paradoxical, as it is virtually impossible to gain knowledge of the exact numbers of personnel lost on that fateful day. The following lists are of either those found and buried ashore, or reported to be on board at the time of the sinking and presumed to be lost in the action. Others, who were supposedly recorded, died from injuries on the way back to England and were buried at sea. There are some names included who may not have been aboard the ship at all, but whose date of death are given, in some cases, from a date late in May 1940 to a date either on or after the sinking. These have been included towards the end of the list. All the details of each service man are as recorded by the Commonwealth War Graves Commission (CWGC). Names with an asterisk * after their number or, in the case of Merchant Navy personnel, after their job title, merely confirms that their name appears on the CWGC’s database with the name Lancastria included in their details. However, this does not mean that if the asterisk is missing that they were not on board.

The CWGC assure me that every Commonwealth service man or woman lost during the Second World War is recorded somewhere in the world, either on a headstone or on a memorial, all of which are duplicated in their respective registers; they have also assured me that there were no Royal Navy casualties connected with the loss of the Lancastria. If any names are missing from the following list, I personally apologise; but, in defence, if the incorrect date of a person’s death is recorded, it will always be an impossible task to achieve a complete list. As the reader will appreciate, the compilation of this large list of names took inestimable hours of research, but was not compiled to prove or disprove any previous estimations. It is purely to record all the known names, together, as a remembrance to those who died on 17 June 1940. Army and RAF names recorded in the appropriate lists of lost personnel, held at the Public Record Office in Kew, have been meticulously checked with this list and the CWGC’s website and the appropriate adjustments made.

Brian Crabb

Crtl F to search

(To search the names, or any other key words, hold and depress the Ctrl key then simultaneously press the F key on your keyboard. This will bring up a dialogue search box. Enter in the details you want to search for and you will directed to the relevant name, or unit. You can repeat this process as many times as you require.)

The Association is deeply indebted to Brian Crabb for his ongoing work on this roll which has helped numerous relatives locate the resting place of their loved one. For more details about a specific victim of the disaster please contact the Secretary.

Their Name Liveth for evermore

Army and RAF abbreviations used in the following list of names:

AASF: Air Advance Striking Force.
AMPC: Auxiliary Military Pioneer Corps.
A&S Highlanders: The Argyll and Sutherland Highlanders.
attd: attached to.
BAFF: British Air Forces in France.
B&H Regt: The Bedfordshire and Hertfordshire Regiment.
Bn: Battalion.
Bty: Battery.
Buffs: The Buffs (Royal East Kent Regiment).
BW: The Black Watch (Royal Highland Regiment).
C*: Communal Cemetery.
Coy: Company.
C Regt: The Cheshire Regiment.
dra: death recorded as (i.e., the date of death recorded by the CWGC in the appropriate register).
D Regt: The Devonshire Regiment.
E Regt: The Essex Regiment.
EL Regt: The East Lancashire Regiment.
ES Regt: The East Surrey Regiment.
EY Regt: The East Yorkshire Regiment (The Duke of York’s Own).
GH: The Green Howards (Alexandra, Princess of Wales Own Yorkshire Regiment).
H Regt: The Royal Hampshire Regiment.
KORR: The King’s Own Royal Regiment.
KOSB: The King’s Own Scottish Borderers.
KSLI: The King’s Shropshire Light Infantry.
KRH: The King’s Royal Hussars.
L Fus: The Lancashire Fusiliers.
MP: Corps of Royal Military Police.
MT: Motor Transport.
N&D Regt: Nottinghamshire and Derbyshire Regiments (The Sherwood Foresters).
NS Regt: The North Staffordshire Regiment (The Prince of Wales’s).
QOCH: Queen’s Own Cameron Highlanders.
QORWK: The Queen’s Own Royal West Kent Regiment.
QR Regt: The Queen’s Royal Regiment (West Surrey).
R Fusiliers: The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).
R Sigs: Royal Corps of Signals.
RA: Royal Regiment of Artillery.
RAC: The Royal Armoured Corps.
RAMC: Royal Army Medical Corps.
RAOC: Royal Army Ordnance Corps.
RAPC: Royal Army Pay Corps.
RASC: Royal Army Service Corps.
RB Regt: The Royal Berkshire Regiment (Princess Charlotte of Wales’s).
RE: Corps of Royal Engineers.
RF: The Royal Fusiliers (City of London Regiment).
RNF: The Royal Northumberland Fusiliers.
RUR: The Royal Ulster Rifles.
RW Fusiliers: The Royal Welch Fusiliers.
SS Regt: The South Staffordshire Regiment.
SL Regt: South Lancashire Regiment.
SQMS: Squadron Quartermaster Sergeant.
SWB: The South Wales Borderers.
WO I and WO II: Warrant Officer, Class 1 or 2.
Y&L Regt: The York and Lancaster Regiment.

Please Note: In many of these cemeteries there are a number of service personnel buried with no known identity. However, these names should appear on the Dunkirk or Runnymede Memorials, and probably appear in the respective list of names researched by the author from the relevant registers.

(William Richardson died at Broadgreen Emergency Hospital, Liverpool. His cause of death is given as: (a) Congestive cardiac failure (b) Mitral valvular disease. Whether this is linked with the Lancastria sinking is unknown. However, he is listed by the CWGC as a casualty of the ship–therefore his inclusion).

Below is listed possible names whose death is recorded between two dates that embrace 17 June 1940; there is no certain way of knowing if they were on board the Lancastria, but regimental details suggest that most of them were.

The following list of names are recorded on the Dunkirk Memorial. No body, or recognisable body, was found; therefore, the date of death is, as the above list, recorded between two dates that embrace 17 June 1940. It must be pointed out that this list is much more unreliable than the former. This is because of the vastness of the area of combat. There is no certain way of knowing if any of the names recorded below were on board the Lancastria but, again, some regiment details suggest that some of these personnel were.